This is the heartwarming moment hero workers used a backhoe to save a stray dog stuck in a dirty canal in Vietnam.

The group of builders were on their lunch break when they saw the hapless pooch clinging onto a rock in the middle of the water in Ho Chi Minh City on September 6.

The helpful labourers decided to extend their work hours and planned a rescue missing, using the backhoe to help scoop up the creature with the help of a concerned local.

Footage shows a local standing to the excavator's bucket to reach the dog while the workers operated it from the edge of the canal.

Resident Nhat Hoang said: ‘The dog was wounded. I'm glad the locals were kind enough to rescue it before it's too late.'

The kind man carried the exhausted dog in his arms before delivering it back to the ground. He wiped the injured dog clean and took him to the vet for a health check-up.

The workers thanked the locals for their help and carried on with the repair work on the road beside the canal.